LAHORE: Federal Information Minister Pervez Rashid expressed the hope on Friday that PTI chairman Imran Khan would not repeat the mistake of holding another sit-in.

Talking to newsmen here, he said that politics of sit-ins would not earn anything for Imran Khan as any such move by the PTI would meet the same fate as that of the last one.

He said politics Imran Khan introduced on a container in Islamabad had resulted in a big loss to the PTI in by-elections in Haripur and some other areas.

He claimed that the PTI chief would not be able to stage a sit-in this time as nobody would provide him anything on credit because he had not yet paid outstanding bills for loudspeakers hired for the last sit-in.

The PML-N leader said that Imran Khan could never dare contest by-elections as the PML-N had decided to go to the “court of the masses” instead of seeking stay orders from higher courts against recent decisions of election tribunals.

He expressed the hope that voters of Lahore (NA-122) and Lodhran (NA-154) would reject the PTI in by-elections to show that the PTI chairman’s allegations of rigging were false.

About the PTI leader’s demand for resignations of the Election Commission members, the minister said that the PTI’s objection was out of place because it had taken part in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government elections and by-elections under the same ECP members while the PTI also took part in Karachi and Haripur by-polls and accepted election results.

He said if an election tribunal’s decision against the PML-N was a “fall of wicket,” then the decision of the Judicial Commission’s inquiry was an “innings defeat” for the PTI.

The PTI chairman did not participate in the proceedings of the Electoral Reforms Committee of the National Assembly due to absence from parliament and his return as parliamentarian was only made possible by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, he said. “If Mr Khan has any proposal, he should submit it to the committee so that election process can be made more viable and strong.”

In reply to a question, the minister said that Imran Khan should support any change through a constitutional process rather than imposing things by force and coercion. “Any change through coercion would fail.”

In reply to a question about Opposition Leader Syed Khurshid Shah, the minister said that no person would be subjected to any political victimisation in the country under the PML-N government.

To a question about investigation into MQM leader Imran Farooq’s murder, he said that Scotland Yard had independently investigated the case as the crime had taken place in England.

He said some people involved in the case were present in the country and that was why access was given to the Scotland Yard.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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